Biomarker Identification in Liver Cancers Using Desorption Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry (DESI-MS) Imaging: An Approach for Spatially Resolved Metabolomics

Hui Chen, Sylvère Durand, Olivia Bawa, Mélanie Bourgin, Léa Montégut, Flavia Lambertucci, Omar Motiño, Sijing Li, Uxía Nogueira-Recalde, Gerasimos Anagnostopoulos, Maria Chiara Maiuri, Guido Kroemer, Isabelle Martins

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

    2 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Liver cancers are characterized by interindividual and intratumoral heterogeneity, which makes early diagnosis and the development of therapies challenging. Desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (DESI-MS) imaging is a potent and sensitive MS ionization technique for direct, unaltered 2D and 3D imaging of metabolites in complex biological samples. Indeed, DESI gently desorbs and ionizes analyte molecules from the sample surface using an electrospray source of highly charged aqueous spray droplets in ambient conditions. DESI-MS imaging of biological samples allows untargeted analysis and characterization of metabolites in liver cancers to identify new biomarkers of malignancy. In this chapter, we described a detailed protocol using liver cancer samples collected and stored for histopathology examination, either as frozen or as formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens. Such hepatocellular carcinoma samples can be subjected to DESI-MS analyses, illustrating the capacity of spatially resolved metabolomics to distinguish malignant lesions from adjacent normal liver tissue.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationMethods in Molecular Biology
    PublisherHumana Press Inc.
    Pages199-209
    Number of pages11
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2024

    Publication series

    NameMethods in Molecular Biology
    Volume2769
    ISSN (Print)1064-3745
    ISSN (Electronic)1940-6029

    Keywords

    • Cancer
    • DESI-MS; spatial metabolomics
    • Liver

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